Siege of Aracillum (27 BC)

The Siege of Aracillum occurred in 27 BC during the Roman Empire's Cantabrian Wars. Legio V Hispana, commanded by Octavian's right-hand man Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, conquered the Cantabrian capital of Aracillum and subjected the Cantabri to Roman rule.

Background
The Cantabri of the Iberian Peninsula were a federation of Celtic tribes who inhabited northern Hispania at the time of the 1st century BC. While the Roman Republic had subdued or vassalized the other Iberian tribes by 42 BC, the Cantabri maintained their autonomy, and Queen Suanetes was known by the Romans to be expansionist and unreliable. In 27 BC, the Roman emperor Augustus decided to complete the Roman conquest of Hispania by subduing the Cantabri, dispatching Legio V Hispana to deal with the Cantabri menace. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus' right-hand man and best general, was given command of the legion, and he hired Balearic slingers and Iberian mercenary cavalrymen to augment his sizable legion. In the autumn of 27 BC, the legion laid siege to the Cantabri capital of Aracillum, which was defended by Queen Suanetes and 1,920 Cantabri warriors.

Siege
Legio V Hispania deployed on a plain near the Cantabri village, arraying the army into two rows: the Roman legionaries would form the front line, the Roman velites and Balearic slingers would from the second line (protected from hand-to-hand combat by the legionaries in the front), and the Roman and Iberian cavalry would be deployed on the left flank. The Cantabri advanced on the Roman line, but the Romans had extended their cohorts much further, allowing for the Roman cavalry to ride around the Cantabri right flank and attack their cavalry. The Roman cavalry succeeded in routing the cavalry and preventing them from engaging the main Roman force; the Cantabri warriors were easily routed in melee combat with the well-trained and armored Roman legionaries. The Cantabri inflicted considerable losses on the Roman cavalry by hurling masses of javelins at them, but the Roman cavalry charged Suanetes and her bodyguards, causing the javelinmen to stop firing. The Roman legionaries launched a major counterattack at the same time, wiping out the remainder of the Cantabri infantry before completing the encirclement of Suanetes' bodyguards. Suanetes was killed by Roman cavalry as she tried to flee the battlefield, and the remnants of her army collapsed. Aracillum fell under Roman control, and the Romans occupied the town and converted it into a Roman town.